about

	Krista Leesi is an Estonian textile artist - designer, faculty member in Department of Textile Design of Estonian Academy of Arts.

	Kai Lobjakas, Väikesed tähelepanekud Sirp 09.06.2023 https://www.sirp.ee/s1-artiklid/c6-kunst/vaikesed-tahelepanekud/
	… Her work combines the Estonian craft traditions with the techniques and forms of the expressions of contemporary art. … She considers patterns as a “language she knows or a working tool she can use” and which tells a story. … Her approach is playful. She is very productive, and even published a book in which textile terminology is analyzed through the language of objects. IMAGINE! FITE (The International Festival of Extra ordinary Textiles) 2022
	Krista Leesi is a textile designer who has become best known for her witty approach to both our surrounding world and materials. Her playful works explore specific observations and connections on space and textiles that are both eloquent in the local context and more universally understood. Through her contemporary creations the field of meaning of traditional textiles has significantly expanded, and her polished works make it possible to see the special in th everyday. Triin Jerlei, Women in Estonian Contemporary Design 2022
	Sirp 24.09.2022 https://www.sirp.ee/s1-artiklid/c6-kunst/tartu-verbaalne-herbaarium/ https://sirp.ee/s1-artiklid/c6-kunst/lend-ule-tartu-ja-labi-ajaloo/
	Krista Leesi is an Estonian textile artist and designer whose oeuvre is characterised by a clever conceptual union of language and visuals. Leesi’s interventions offer new and pointed meanings to familiar objects, images and environments. She finds an original way to join together the historical methods and practices of textile art, different materials and contemporary ideas. Her works lead the viewer to discover hidden meanings, to create connections between various narratives and to indulge in playful contemplations. The technically adept execution and striking design language of Leesi’s oeuvre offer aesthetic experiences and practical aspects in parallel with gripping content. This is a magnificent example of the way the boundaries between design and contemporary art have become vague. Leesi’s works are made unique by the fact that both art and design are equally important: they are highlighted successfully and with intensity. Joanna Hoffmann, Tartu Art Museum 2021
	Krista Leesi is a textile designer and artist with extensive teaching experience in the Estonian Academy of Arts and a unique body of work. Representing a very distinctive, conceptual approach to textile design, she also explores the multiplicity of meaning (in her book “tekkSTIILIkunsti SÕNAraamat”). She graduated from the Estonian Academy of Arts in 1993 and has exhibited in numerous group and solo shows since 1992, both in Estonia and abroad. Her first solo exhibition was in 1999. Leesi creates both witty unique art pieces and practical small series. She has won a number of competitions, including this year's Christmas stamp competition organised by the postal service provider Omniva. Several of her works belong to the collection of the Estonian Museum of Applied Art and Design. Leesi’s work can also be found in the collections of the China National Silk Museum (Hangzhou, China), the Contextile Contemporary Textile Art Biennial (Guimarães, Portugal) and World Textile Art (Miami, Florida). Estonian Museum of Applied Art and Design 2019
	Krista Leesi lectures in textile art and design at the Estonian Academy of Arts. She regards pattern as “like a language I know or working tool I can use” – which is not just decorative, but can tell a story and combine traditional and contemporary elements. She has designed repeating patterns for large scale production. However much of her current work is for personal art projects “that can’t be just beautiful, there must be something extra … some message, perhaps hidden at first glance, or ambiguous … or just funny or inconvenient for someone”. Her approach is playful – as in the wallpapers made of Estonian symbols and logos where shapes together make an image that appears like a skull. She also enjoys word play – as in the patchwork For Your Eyes Only and picture messages for mobile phone texting that she translates into cross stitch or knitting. Jackie Herald, Experimental Pattern Sourcebook, Rockport 2010
	Krista Leesi is a textile artist - designer whose work combines the Estonian crafts tradition with the bold techniques and forms of expression of contemporary art. Rauma Biennale Balticum 2008 Flower Power
	Krista Leesi subverts traditional skills: crochet, embroidery, etc through the use of disposable or everyday materials. Language, written words that surround a particular idea, form the impetus for the work. Leesi wishes to retain a degree of ambiguity about the identity of individual works although there is a core personal narrative that runs through her work, much of which has been related to the body. Lesley Millar, Cloth and Culture Now 2007
	Krista Leesi is an author of many witty works, among other thing of a book where textile terminology is analysed through the “language of objects”. Kai Lobjakas, Estonian Museum of Applied Art and Design 2007
	Karin Paulus, PULSS august-september 2016

	Eesti Ekspress Kodu 25.03.2015
	Kai-Ywe Scholz, DESIGNREPORT 4/2011
	ELLE UK February 2008
	Eesti Ekspress Moodne Kodu 13.12.2007